FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to dimming control systems employing interchangeable dimmer modules and enclosures for mounting such dimmer modules. More particularly, the present invention relates to a unique dimmer module architecture employing on board intelligence for dimming control and a rack mounting system for the intelligent dimmer modules employing dual communications control modules for communication with individual dimmer modules in the rack and non-volatile memory in the rack backplane for storage of configuration information and independent operating parameters.
Lighting control systems for architectural, theatrical and movie/television applications typically incorporate numerous individual dimmer circuits which are rack mounted at central locations for control of disbursed individual and grouped incandescent or inductive loads. Conventional dimming communications protocols have been developed for various input communications devices to communicate with rack mounted dimmers and typically individual racks incorporate a controller for receiving such commands and distributing commands to the individual
Various technologies have been employed for individual dimmers including choke based and electronic dimmer systems. Control of both types of systems has been accomplished using pulse width modulated (PWM) control approaches. Consolidation of processing in a centralized controller for large numbers of dimmer control circuits creates significant complexity in the controller. It is therefore desirable to distribute control functions while centralizing communications for dimmer rack systems. Such distributed processing is also particularly advantageous with newly developed lighting control systems employing local area networks for command and control communication.
Dimming racks in the prior art typically support numerous dimmer modules. To allow flexibility in lighting requirements, dimmer racks must support dimmer modules having varying power ratings and physical interconnection requirements for load outputs. It is therefore desirable for dimmer racks to incorporate means for assuring mating of properly configured dimmer modules with compatible load and wiring configurations within the rack while maintaining commonality of interface structure to reduce cost and complexity in the rack system. The capability to preconfigure racks with specific dimmer module information and to provide redundant control capability for system failures, panic mode operations and independent control of rack based looks for lighting controlled by the racks is desirable.
The present invention provides the desired features overcoming deficiencies in the prior art while maintaining producability of both dimmer racks and dimmer modules for cost considerations and commonality with prior art control systems.